Aspirin in Aspen
by Kerstae
Summary: Prequel to She Would Return. Or a simple Season 3 One-Shot of THAT night in Aspen with Madison Sinclair as Logan celebrates New Years with Dick.
1. Chapter 1

The ski lodge was full of tipsy eager young college students enjoying their first year of freedom from their parents at Hearst and San Diego State University. It was almost like a small reunion of the Class of 2016 of Neptune High, most of his surviving senior class was here, he mused as Logan Echolls recalled the day he had asked Veronica Mars to his Alterna-prom.

"This.. this is high school… we are here for four years and then we move on… and all these people you see around here vanish from your life and you never have to think about them again" she had smiled gleefully.

She would have hated this… and Logan would give anything to stop thinking about her and missing her right now.

 _What had he been thinking?_ He had finally gotten everything that he had wanted… a relationship with her… a chance to be with the girl he loved more than life itself, and he had kept screwing it up he thought miserably as he stared at the photograph screensaver on his phone.

Christmas without her had been the loneliest he could remember, despite Dick's attempts at getting him to let loose on this trip.

"Dude… snow surfing is like waves but colder and less ball chaffing" his roommate had grinned.

Aspen for the holidays had been a great idea, he would have been a hundred times more miserable if his car had been sitting right there and he would be tormenting himself to stop himself from driving over to Veronica's house to beg her to take him back. It felt like this heart break wasn't going to mend.

"I've had enough of the Moping!" Dick had declared before he had thrown Logan's phone into a pitcher of beer.

"Dude! What the hell man?!" Logan complained as he pulled it out again but it was ruined.

"Relax, you have it all sync'd up to that cloud thing Mac showed you… and now you don't have to worry about getting drunk and calling her up crying. You can finally cut that noose she's got around your balls and chill out… you are on Vacation, dude!" Dick told him before handing him a shot of Sambuca. "Enjoy it"

"You just destroyed my phone dude" Logan said as he set the device down on the table and took out the battery.

"I got you a new one for the holidays" Dick said as he pointed at the unopened present's still sitting in his bag. "I am going up to the hot springs with that Blossom chick at midnight… I have a feeling there will more than one moon under those Northern Lights tonight" he winked and Logan took the shot from his friend.

"Bottoms up!" Logan said as he threw back the burning liquid and it stung the back of his throat. Drinking to forget wasn't the most healthy of coping mechanisms but it was the only thing that had really seemed to be helping him the last few weeks. Anything to avoid the truth, he wasn't strong enough to stop loving Veronica Mars. This pain… was anything but survivable. He had thought he could tough it out but he was wrong.

He wanted to call her, he wanted to be wrapped back up in his bed with her beside him.

Losing Lilly had been tough, it had almost destroyed him… and when he had found Veronica in that parking lot with her head shaved, the nightmares of all the times he had almost lost her had started to keep him awake at night. His father's attempt to kill her, the day of the bus crash, the sight of her delicate throat under Liam Fitzpatrick's fist in the River Styxx and when Cassidy Casablanca's had tried to force her off the roof of the Neptune Grand Hotel he called home. He couldn't stop himself… he had crossed a line and hired someone to protect her because she wouldn't let him.

Several shots and a few beers later he finally said goodbye to Dick as he headed off on his little booty adventure.

"Can you believe this man?" Luke asked as he pointed to the big projector screen they had up in the main lodge reception. "We still get to watch the ball drop" he mused as the watched the scene of Times Square.

"Just like being back in Neptune" Logan agreed as he watched the usual couples from his high school days forming their little cliques. Some things never changed.

Veronica would be at home watching this too, probably surrounded by her friends… he didn't want to wonder if she was with someone else. It hurt to think about it. She was too far away.

She hadn't even seemed that upset when he had broken up with her at all and it killed him. He couldn't face her after he had found out about Mo and Mercer, he had screwed up again. That was part of the reason this little trip to hide up in the snowy mountains had appealed to him in the first place.

"Ugh… can you believe that Cole and that skank Kimmy are together? Meg would be turning in her grave" Madison Sinclair said snidely as she watched them from across the room as she stood beside Logan.

"You sure you aren't still bitter because you scored a 73 on that purity test?" Luke joked before she turned and gave him a cold glare.

"Like you scored anything, Mr College Virgin" she snarked and he blushed shyly then picked up his drink and moved away.

"You know, Madison, if it bothered you so much, you could make a man out of him" Logan joked as he downed another shot. The world was starting to get that happy floaty feeling, he didn't even mind that she had decided to occupy the same space with him… then he caught the first whiff of it.

 _Her perfume…._ The same kind that Veronica wore. He tried to brush away the thought and picked up the bottle of champagne from the table. Madison held out her glass expectantly.

"With hands like those.. no one needs to make a man out of you Logan Echolls" she smiled appreciatively.

 _Oh really? She thought this was flirting?_ He wasn't even sure why he was even still standing beside her, she was the worst kind of vapid babbling harlot.

"Idle hands are ever the Devil's playground" he joked, trying not to overfill the glass.

"So how is Life at Hearst?" she asked, running a hand along his arm _. Did she honestly think he was interested? But there it was again… that sweet scent that made him feel homesick._

"Oh you know… any excuse to avoid becoming a contributing member of Society for the next four years" Logan said as he took a deep long drink from the bottle.

The DJ changed the tracks and Pale Waves – New Years Eve came on and the lyrics started to filter into his head as the couples paired off under the Chinese lanterns on the balcony and the disco lights bounced around the room. He remembered last time he could even recall dancing with someone like that.

 _The Sadie Hawkins Dance… with Veronica._

He really wished she was here. _You are pining away you idiot…_ he thought and remembered his beer soaked phone. Maybe Dick had done him a favour, because right now he wanted to retreat to his bedroom and call her, to hear her voice, wish her a happy new years.

 _To beg her to take him back._

"God, you think they would actually play something that doesn't suck" Madison complained as she licked her lips and looked at him admiringly. "I'm surprised you weren't with someone right now…" she commented.

"Oh but I am.. you are here" he said sarcastically. If that scent didn't hold him captive he would be telling her to go to hell…

"Ten minutes until the ball drops!" Casey Gant called as he brought around a tray of absinthe shots.

Logan took two of them and excused himself to his room, maybe if he put his sim card into the new phone that Dick had bought him, he could check for texts from Veronica?

He clumsily tore open the small box and fiddled with the settings of the installation menu as he sat on the edge of the bed and put in his sim card.

Sim Fail.. Network Error. He drained the last of the bottle in his hands and lay back drunkenly on his bed.

 _Nice one Dick… you got one tied to a different network._ he sighed and reaching for his computer. _Maybe he could get it unlocked? Would she have her skype open?_

"Why use Porn Hub when you got such fine opportunities right here?" Madison said as she unzipped her pink sequin dress and kicked it aside to reveal a sexy set of lingerie and black stockings. There was no denying she had a fantastic body, but then that was to be expected, she was currently at University of San Diego on a full scholarship for cheerleading, not that her family needed it.

"I'm not such a big fan of the one-piece numbers" he retorted sarcastically.

"I'm not a big fan of being kept waiting" she replied as she approached the bed and straddled his hips.

"Hey.. come on…" he protested but his body was already starting to show an interest in the heat of her pressed against him.

"Come on what exactly?" she purred as she traced a hand across her cleavage and kissed him.

Her mouth tasted like gin and tonic and the scent of that perfume filled his nose.

Blond hair falling around him in waves… just for a moment if he closed his eyes he could imagine it was _her…_

"What's the matter Lo-gan… you forget how this works?" she teased grinding her hips against him and pulling his shirt buttons.

 _Forgetting… that sounded like a great idea right about now…_

He grabbed hold of her wrists and flipped them so she was lying on her back beneath him as his weight pressed against her.

"Since when did you behave like such a sad sack?" she complained.

 _Since I was stupid and lost the love of my life?_

"I know all kinds of ways to make you feel better" she promised, wrapping her strong legs around his waist.

 _Feeling better… even if just for a moment… just for a minute…_

He reached down and kissed her as the noise from the other Lodge guests shouted Happy New Years.

"Well Honey… I think I am going to go to bed" Keith Mars declared as he put the last beer into the trash can and followed Alicia into his bedroom. It wasn't that they were getting back together, just two old former lovers keeping each other company on the holidays… Veronica thought to herself sadly.

"Still no word from Logan?" Wallace asked softly.

"Nope" she said quietly, sliding her phone back into her lap and he looked at her in sympathy. He was her best friend, he knew how deeply this break up had hurt her, even if she wasn't saying it out loud.

"New Years Resolutions?" he asked as he held out small plate with sandwiches on it.

"Drink more water?" she joked as she put down her drink and headed to the sink in the small kitchen to get a glass. She didn't like to over indulge. Some things weren't worth the hangover… or the morning after.

"Always use sunscreen… even when its cloudy?" he teased as he pointed at the tan lines on her shoulders. Christmas in Neptune came with sunburn and she had taken a little too much sun the previous day while they had been hanging out with Mac on the beach. Parker and Piz had gone home for the Holidays, but it was nice that they had had time to reconnect after the whole Mercer incident.

"Read a self-help book on how to date guys with less criminally inclined friends?" she added sarcastically. _Or how to date guys who didn't woo you with stories of Epic Love and then dump your ass?_

"In your line of work? Supafly the only kind of guy you meet these days have criminally inclined friends" he retorted as she joined him on the couch.

"What can I say?" she smiled as she took a bit of her sandwich.

"Happy New Years Marshmallow" he told her finally and she rested her head on his shoulder.

At least there was one guy she could still count on.


	2. Chapter 2

Logan Echolls woke up with the hangover from hell, it felt like the world was screaming inside his head, the low sunlight streamed through the windows on his balcony and he squinted, the snow outside reflected more of the light practically blinding him. New Years Trip in Aspen with Dick Casablanca's his roommate since his sister Trina had decided it was time to reconnect with her birth mother last year. He couldn't really blame her he supposed, he understood that ache to have some kind of attachment to someone who considered you family… especially after he had screwed up his one chance to get to know his only remaining blood relative left anywhere apart from his Uncle Samuel Lester. Charlie Stone, his older half-brother, just one more screw up on his list of regrets from last year, and as his eyes shifted focus to the discarded pink sequinned dress on the floor, he realised that it wasn't the last one he had made that year.

Madison Sinclair lay curled around him with her long legs entwined with his.

What the hell had he been thinking?

He pushed her arm off his chest like it was something poisonous and climbed out of the bed, pulling on his underwear. He glanced at the clock beside his bed and tried to fight the sudden nausea that threatened to release the contents of last nights finger buffet.

This certainly wasn't an unfamiliar situation, the last time he could recall having done something like this was the evening of the Alterna-Prom when he awoke with Kendall spooned against his back. Wasn't this how he dealt with his self-loathing? Ply himself with too much alcohol and fall into bed with the first hot willing floozy who would take him? He glanced quickly at the several discarded condoms on the floor beside the bed, at least they had been careful.

The thought of being permanently tied to an entitled status hungry hell bitch like Madison, Neptune Highs own personal Regina George, didn't bare thinking about. _Dick would be back soon, he had to get her out of his room_ … Logan thought as the shame started to sink in.

 _How did he get himself into these situations?_

He had just slept with his roommates one and only long time ex-girlfriend.

 _Had Madison made a play for him just to get back at Dick?_

He was still wondering how he had ever let himself get that far when he picked up her dress and there was that familiar lingering scent. Veronica's perfume.

That agony he had been trying to escape last night was back now and he couldn't have regretted last night more.

 _She can never know about this…_

"Good morning lover" Madison purred from the bed, finally awake. "I know, I think I broke the zipper last night… guess I'll just have to find something else to wear" she said as she pulled on his shirt and began to button it up.

Logan still hadn't said anything as she walked up to him, taking the items in his hands and kissed him on the neck, pulling her arms into his bathrobe.

"Last night was fun… who knew you could be such a bad boy?" she said squeezing his ass.

 _A bad boy? I am a fucking trainwreck…_ he thought bitterly.

"Anyways, I have a spa morning booked with Jaz and Natasha.. so I am going to go" she declared as she slipped into her heels and stepped back from him.

"Don't let me stop you" Logan said quietly.

"I've left my number in that new phone of yours" she told him in what he was sure she considered to be a seductive tone. "We should have some fun again.. next time I'm in town" she winked before Madison walked out of his room with her hips swaying.

No-strings sex was no big deal for girls like her, women who grew up spoiled and using their bodies as weapons to get whatever they wanted. Right now all Logan wanted was to rewind to last night and avoid taking those shots at all. At the party where they'd met last night, the prospect of a no-strings, one-night stand with a hot willing woman had felt sexy, slightly dangerous, liberating and a salve to the ego following the end of a relationship…. No… not just a relationship.

The Relationship. The one that would haunt him for the rest of his life because it was the only real thing in his Lights, Camera, Action existence that had ever been real… and he had chosen to throw it away… because what? _Veronica had believed in him too much? She pushed him to try and be a better version of himself? Because he loved her more than he had ever thought it was possible to love anything?_

He poured himself a glass of water and slumped back onto the bed, picking up his new phone, Madison had taken a picture of the two of them together last night and set it as his screen saver.

Her smiling face was mocking him from the screen. _Isn't that all girls like Madison wanted him for? Son of a model and an a movie star… he sure did look great in pictures_ Logan thought bitterly a he swiped and deleted it. Dick couldn't see this. He knew Dick probably didn't give a crap whom the vapid socialite Madison Sinclair was off screwing these days and his roommate was currently on his way back from an overnight booty call camp out session under the stars… you wouldn't think it, but astronomy was one of Dick's true passions in life. Something to keep him entertained while he lay on the beaches around the world after surfing when he was trying to pick up chicks. Not that he was much of an academic.

Sim Error. Network Fail.

Logan sighed as he looked at the box again to see if there was instructions on what network this thing was tied to. Then he noticed the small card in the bottom of the box.

Unlock Permission Code: WHU46-SH85S-ALKJ5

It had been here all along.

He flicked through the settings guide and put the code in.

Sim Searching Network.

Welcome to AT&T. Please stand by to receive your internet and message settings.

Several messages started to filter into his new handset.

"Happy New Years Little Brother, Love T"

"Where are you man?" –Luke

"Dude.. HAPPY NEW YEARS!"

There was a picture message from Dick making a Rock Out hand gesture near the top of the mountain.

"Happy New Years, V xxx"

His fingers traced along the screen and the words started to blur as Logan buried his head in his hands and cried. If he had just waited or looked through the box… he could have called her last night. He knew he hadn't cheated, logically he knew that… he wasn't an adulterous bastard like his father. They were broke up... but it felt like he had. He had woken up feeling used and disappointed with himself.

 _Why couldn't he just swallow his pride and admit that he missed her enough to go and plead for another chance?_

 _When was he going to get it through his thick skull?_ Veronica was the only one he wanted _… hadn't he known that since the night he packed Dillion Goran into his car and kissed her outside his house when he told her he was moving on from Lilly's death? Hadn't he always known?_ He thought miserably as he stepped out of the shower. Trying to scrub all trace of Madison from his skin.

"Dude!" Dick called as he came back to the suite. "Oh no… are you still Moping?" he said as he observed Logan's melancholy greeting. "Suit up man, start the year as you mean to go on… let's go make this mountain our Bitch" he smiled, punching Logan in the arm before heading towards the breakfast buffet.

"Yeah… I'll be right down" he said quietly.

But wasn't he already Down? Because this trip was certainly starting to feel like he had just taken up residence in Hell as he spotted Madison smiling at him from down the corridor.


End file.
